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Kings unveil 2016 kit

The Southern Kings have revealed their playing kit for the 2016 Super Rugby season.

Speaking at the launch, Southern Kings Chief Operating Officer, Charl Crous, said he was extremely happy with the design that had been put together.

"The jersey encapsulates the Kings colours and our apparel sponsor, BLK, have really given a lot of attention to ensure that the players kit represents a design symbolic of the Eastern Cape," he said.

Explaining their thinking behind the design, BLK Brand Manager James Hughes said: "The message we want to send about the jersey is ‘why conform when you have the freedom to go Beyond Limits Unknown (BLK).

"This jersey shows that the Kings and BLK are prepared to go out of our comfort zones and to push the boundaries in terms of design and colours used. The pattern in the jersey is an abstract version of a beaded design symbolic to the Eastern Cape."

Hughes said their biggest challenge was to design a jersey which was symbolic of the Eastern Cape, while making the sure the modern element was not lost in its design.

"We had many designs that we came up with, but we feel the design chosen really encapsulates Eastern Province and the Kings perfectly," Hughes said.

Besides designing the franchise’s jersey, BLK also had to come up with an alternate strip in case of a clash of colours with the Southern Kings’ opponents.

Hughes is happy that they have created a strong and bold alternative strip.

"The design remains exactly the same, but the base colour changes to white instead of black and grey," Hughes said.